Till Death do us Part
by MountainHigh
Summary: On a particularly lonely morning, The Doctor receives a visit from death with an interesting ultimatum. What will he choose? 10Rose, AU, Oneshot, enjoy!


**'Till Death do us Part**

_Disclaimer_: I own nothing. This is for my own enjoyment.

_A/N:_ Just a little one shot that popped into my head last night, enjoy! Reviews always appreciated!

...

The Doctor was, as usual, tinkering around in the control room. It had been a long night of no sleep, and his stress levels were rising dangerously. He had just saved a whole planet of giraffe-people from complete destruction, again.

The TARDIS started shaking abruptly. "Blimey" The Doctor whispered under his own breath to himself as he started fiddling with the control panel of his ship. The rocking continued as The Doctor racked his brain for any possible conclusion of what could be creating the turbulence. As he looked up, a mass of black particles started forming together from all around him. He frowned, having not an idea what was appearing in front of him. The particles brought themselves together until they began to form a figure. A cloaked body grew in front of him, the face hidden.

"How did you get in here?" The Doctor questioned uncertainly, although it wouldn't have been the first time anything like this happened. Donna _had_ just popped up clad in a gown after all.

"Do you know who I am, Doctor?" a deep but smooth voice echoed out of the darkness of the hood.

"Well, I can't say I do" The Doctor chuckled despite the absolute serious of the situation.

The black figure outstretched a hand and a sickle appeared in it, "I'm Death, Doctor".

"Ah, well, that would make sense I s'pose except for the lingering fact that I'm immortal" The Doctor ran a hand through his hair.

"I've been watching you for a long time, Doctor. Nothing is supposed to last forever -although it seems, your the exception that defines the rule"

"All of my people were immort-"

"Except they're dead now, aren't they? Your the only one left".

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at Death for a moment before he spoke again, "Where are you going with this?"

"I'm not here to kill you Doctor, I'm here to give you an option".

"Ehm, well, it would be great if you could get to explainin'" The Doctor sat back in his chair as Death loomed in front of him. You could almost see a skull of some kind outlined in the shadows but it was invisible.

Death sighed, "As I was_ trying _to explain before, I've been watching you for a long time. I've been watching you die, and be reborn, over and over again until I noticed a change in everything. Although you've been incidentally alone for most of your life, this time is different. Her name is Rose- correct?"

The Doctor choked on hearing her name. She wasn't _dying_ was she? It was impossible, except all too likely to disregard. "Yes, her name was Rose".

"And you love this Rose more then anything you've ever touched, seen, experienced, or met in this entire galaxy, Correct?"

He felt a burning move from his stomach up to his neck, he felt the pain return. "Yes".

"Well, I'm here to give you an ultimatum. I can kill you Doctor. I can take away your power of regeneration and make you mortal once more. I can make you a normal human who can go spend the rest of his normal life happily with the woman he loves. If that doesn't seem appealing, I can leave right now and never see you again. Your time will never come unless you choose out right now" Death explained, tracing a bone finger across his sickle.

"You can _what_, now?" The Doctor peered at Death in front of him incredulously.

"You heard me, Doctor. It's painfully clear that you must choose right now, love or immortality".

"Without me universes would collapse, everything would be in danger... I can't let that happen to go be a normal person".

"Doctor," death repeated, this time slowly and a little more menacingly, "your long dead inside. You have been for quite sometime which is why I'm allowing your body to exist still. Rose awoke something in you that makes you alive again. This is what created this chance for you. As I said, Doctor, _nothing _is supposed to last forever".

For once in his entire life, the Doctor was silent from fear. He hadn't a clue what to do. He wanted so badly to become mortal and run away with the one person who meant everything to him. He couldn't leave the rest of the universe in peril, though. That absolutely could not happen.

Death spoke once more, "Doctor, with the absence of you the galaxy will balance itself out. Nothing can be absolutely saved or totally destroyed. You've been meddling around in time and there is just too much to be saved for one person to handle. For hundreds and hundreds of years you've been lurking around but what you can't see Doctor is although your doing good, things are perishing all the same. Everything has it's time except you. I kill billions of things every day...an unfathomable amount, I'm offering you an out. I'm offering you a life".

After a few minutes of literally staring Death dead in the eyes, the Doctor spoke, "I know what I have to do".

Death smiled, "right, then".

The Doctor awoke abruptly. He wasn't positive how everything had happened; it felt like a dream. Suddenly, he realized where he was and what was happening. He, the Doctor himself, was laying on the sands of Bad Wolf Bay, and he could only feel one heart beat. As he was sitting up he stopped immediately finally realizing what he had given up. He wasn't quite human, but he was mortal. His whole life of traveling and heroism was gone. He was just The Doctor, now. Just a mortal soul stuck on one planet. He wanted to cry out of anger for what he had done and relief, that he could finally have what he had been dreaming of for hundreds of lonely years.

He stood up and made his way off the beach. He started walking to the only place he knew to go, home. The walk left him with more then ample time to think about what had happen and accept the circumstances, as hard as it would be. He was no longer alone. That single thought made his single beating heart skip for a moment. A smile spread across his face.

Rose was outside on the abnormally sunny day helping Jackie plant some things in their garden. She never particularly liked gardening, but it managed to keep her occupied. She heard footsteps approach her from behind and figured it was her mum. "Where do you want the purple ones?" Rose questioned her, turning around for a moment. She dropped the flowers and froze.

Before her was not her loving mum, but a tall slender man with a very dirty suit on. "Is Rose Tyler home?" He asked with a smile.

Rose couldn't understand what was happening but before she could react she was up on her feet with her arms around his neck. He picked her up by wrapping his arms around her waist and buried a smile in her blonde hair.

"But- how? Why? Where is the TARDIS?" She questioned, not letting go of their powerful embrace.

"It's gone" he said simply, not quite knowing how to explain the weird phenomenon that had just occurred.

"Gone?" Rose shouted with confusion that was cut with her extreme happiness to be in his presence once more.

"You see, I was sitting in the control room when something very strange happened-" The Doctor continued to explain what had just happened with his encounter with death. Rose was utterly conflicted and blown away by his story, but she could not contain the obvious happiness of what this all entailed.

"So, you can stay? You can get old?" Rose cocked her head at the Doctor, not moving too far away from his frame in fear it was all a dream and he would slip away again.

The Doctor gave her a smile laced with sadness, "Yes, Rose".

The sadness was soon extinct as Rose abruptly pushed her mouth onto his. He returned the gesture with as much passion as she had initiated it with. His heart fluttered as did hers. They were inseparable, now. For the rest of their day's they would be hand-in-hand, partners in crime. She let her smile slip through the kiss as he lost his hands in her hair. The pulled apart for only a moment, keeping their foreheads pressed together and their noses touching.

"What were you going to tell me...that day...on the beach?" She questioned, her breathe caressing his face.

He smiled, not moving farther away from her, and whispered, "Rose Tyler, I love you".

Before anymore words could be exchanged, Rose pressed her lips back to his. He deepened the kiss, and pulled her closer, if that was even possible.

Yes, what a lovely morning it was.


End file.
